@Best Loser:I haven't seen all the seasons of TAR but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been their fan had they been on eg season 14,16,17,18 either..In fact I think all those series had better casts than this one. Just my opinion, sorry!I did like Bill & Cathi and Andy and Tommy overall (minus the religion-remarks that is), but that was about it for me this season I'm afraid.

« Last Edit: December 12, 2011, 03:59:41 AM by Topita »

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Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

“I’m So Glad Cindy Was Such a Planner” – Reality News Online’s Exclusive Interview with The Amazing Race 19’s Winners, Ernie & Cindy by David Bloomberg -- 12/12/2011 Ernie & Cindy were perhaps the most prepared duo to ever enter The Amazing Race – and it paid off! Why do they think they did so well? How “Type A” is Cindy and did her parents really expect her to win? How did they blow through the final leg so quickly? What are their plans for the prize and their wedding, and what else is going on in their personal lives right now? Find out all of this and more right here!

Reality News Online: Hello, Ernie & Cindy, and thanks for taking the time on what I’m sure is a very busy day to talk to us here at Reality News Online! First and foremost, congratulations on winning The Amazing Race!Ernie: Thank you!RNO: You prepared and prepared and prepared – I think it’s safe to say that you believe it was all worth it? Cindy: (Laughs.)Ernie: Yes, the amount of preparation that we went into seemed like it panned out at the end. I’m so glad Cindy was such a planner and made me do everything to get on the show and then win the show.RNO: Is Cindy like that in everyday life as well? And Ernie, does it ever drive you crazy? Ernie: Cindy is very much our relationship planner. She’s always got something going on, she has an internal drive – I’m always just keeping up. Where I can, I balance her out. It gets into some high-stress situations and I mellow her out.Cindy: (Laughs.) I’m not that intense 100% of the time. We’re being filmed 24 hours a day, and it’s easy to take a five-minute clip. We like to have fun and laugh and joke around. I’m definitely Type A, but not 100% of the time.RNO: Cindy, when you said your parents expected you to win, how much were you exaggerating? Cindy: When we told my parents, we shared the results before last night. My mom was like, “We expected it.” I know them so well, they’re proud of us but they definitely have this expectation that you’ll do your best and it will be good enough to win. We watched the show with our families and other racers last night, and when I made that comment [on the show], my dad made the comment, “Yeah that’s right.”Ernie: They really expect a lot out of Cindy. I understand the stress that’s putting on her. It’s viewed negatively but they have high goals for their children. I was raised a little more relaxed (laughs).RNO: You’re both on Twitter and have been active participants in discussions about the Race. How difficult has it been to keep the big secret throughout this whole time? Cindy: It was actually more difficult to not tell people we’d been on the show until the announcement. When people asked, they understood we couldn’t tell them.Ernie: Once people knew, we just said you’ve got to watch – just getting people excited to view the show.Cindy: [Before the show was on,] people wondered where we’d been for a month. They were like, “Is she pregnant and hiding out?” We just had to keep our mouths shut and say, “No, we were just doing our thing.”RNO: Cindy said that the Race is great premarital counseling – but 18 previous seasons of the show have indicated otherwise. Why do you think it worked well for you two but caused so many other couples to fight incessantly? Cindy: (Laughs.) Ernie and I did a lot of preparing before the Race. We know how to avoid any blowups. We generally don’t fight at all. We talk things through rationally. If I need a minute, I’ll take a minute and leave the room and not say anything. He’s such a great guy, it’s easy to not fight with him.Ernie: It speaks a lot for the relationships on the show. Marcus & Amani were great role models, and Bill & Cathi. these were great couples that didn’t fight, worked well together, and we did the same – better than I thought we would. I thought there would be more bickering. But it was kind of cool to see it come together the way it did.RNO: Cindy discussed some of your plans for the prize money – can you more fully explain what you plan to do? Cindy: Ernie and I were traveling around the world – we wanted to figure out if we could work together in a business and that’s an emphatic yes. As we were traveling, we know education is so key and vital to the success of a lot of people. We take for granted free public education, but in a place like Cambodia, it costs $25 per year, which many can’t afford. It’s easier for families to put them to work. We’re trying to help out the community from the grassroots [by helping kids go to school] – it’s a cycle we hope to continue. We’re trying to go with the saying, “Give a man a fish he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.” We want to be able to share that experience and the opportunity with those who want to go to school but can’t afford it.We’re also passionate about fitness and health – we’re trying to combine that with childhood obesity and synergize it. We’re going to be developing it more on our website, ernie-cindy.com. Hopefully more people can follow it there and give thoughts on building this business.RNO: Ernie, from what I’ve seen on Twitter, it seems this is a tough time for you in your professional life – what happened with your job? Ernie: My company in Germany is a printing press manufacturer – it’s been on the decline. They went bankrupt and I was placed on furlough – nonpaid work. They’re going to decide if I’m going to come back early next year. It doesn’t look good. It’s time for a change to do something different to start up this organization together with Cindy.RNO: When’s the wedding? Cindy: In march in Chicago. We’re looking forward to it.Ernie: Yeah! It’s probably the one thing we’re going to give ourselves from this Race. It will be a great wedding we can share with everybody. Cindy: We’re excited to have some Amazing Racers there to be part of our big day.RNO: Looking at the last leg, how quickly did you go through the final map challenge, and were you worried when you saw you wouldn’t be able to use notes? Cindy: I forgot about the not using notes! I think it ended up taking 10 to 15 minutes. Throughout the course of our flying around, we would use the magazine on the plane and draw our routes and Ernie would be like, “What are you doing?” I was like, “It might be important.” I noticed in the clue they had put a picture of the country in the clue, which I’d never seen before. Ernie: Ironically enough, I’m with a map we just drew [on the flight to Atlanta] with a red line. It was basically in the bag for Cindy when she went up there.Cindy: I was like, thankfully it’s not “remember every host,” but something we could actually prepare for while on the Race and still be ready.RNO: How long did you circle with the GPS annoyingly saying, “Recalculating”? Cindy: (Laughs) It must’ve been maybe two minutes – but that’s very suspenseful on a TV show when they show the whole thing. We found it pretty quickly.RNO: How far ahead of Jeremy & Sandy did you finish? Cindy: We believe we were about an hour and a half ahead and Marcus & Amani came about an hour later. We were really lucky our taxi driver knew the freeway was crowded so he took the back roads I think Jeremy & Sandy said they sat in traffic for a solid hour.RNO: Who did you call to find out what Margaret Mitchell’s house was called? Ernie: Before we were in Atlanta, we found a little boy in panama and we asked him to use his computer. We got the phone number for the Atlanta tourism board. The woman on the line was very helpful and knew what the Dump was. That combined with texting Google for info – it was a cinch.Cindy: We also met a lady on the plane who lived in Atlanta her whole life and we asked what are the historical sites. She was like, “You should see the Margarent Mitchell House and Turner Field. As soon as the woman said that, we were like bingo, it’s like the Race to pick something important in history.RNO: I’m being told we’re unfortunately out of time – is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers and your fans about your time on the Race?Cindy: We just appreciate everyone watching and hope they enjoyed the season as much as we did!RNO: Thanks and congratulations once again! See you on Twitter!

Another thing I forgot to mention was their odd comment regarding "B and C students", inferring that they were above their two competitors. I thought it was odd that the editors left that line in the airing.

Another thing I forgot to mention was their odd comment regarding "B and C students", inferring that they were above their two competitors. I thought it was odd that the editors left that line in the airing.

I wanted Amani & Marcus to win, but I still liked Ernie & Cindy a lot so I'm happy.

As for some of the "arrogant" things that they've said -- I do agree that pride is probably one of Cindy's flaws. But at the same time I think some of her comments were taken a little too seriously. The "A-student" thing seems to have been a bit of a joke among everyone, Amani & Marcus said something in an interview teasing Ernie & Cindy about how they wouldn't have caught up to them because they're only "B students."

Anyway, congrats to them! They did play the game well and deserved the win.

Another thing I forgot to mention was their odd comment regarding "B and C students", inferring that they were above their two competitors. I thought it was odd that the editors left that line in the airing.

Quote

Some fans are finding your comment comparing Jeremy and Sandy, and Marcus and Amani to C students off-putting. Do you want to elaborate on that?Ernie: What was the exact comment? We were partying a little too hard last night. [Laughs]

You said if you lost to them, it would've been like losing to C students because you guys are A+ students.Cindy: We said that?! Oh my God! How awful! That's so terrible. I can't believe we said that!

You have no recollection of that? Ernie, you also said it would've been like losing to your brother.Ernie: [Laughs] Oh my God! Oh, man. We don't remember that. I mean, it's not meant to be negative in any way. It was just that it seemed like Jeremy and Sandy were squeaking by here and there. They won the Panama leg, which was awesome for them, and Marcus and Amani were the comeback kids. I think it was like, being ahead of the pack, you would feel pretty much ashamed if you lost to someone who came all the way from the back and beat you.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Another thing I forgot to mention was their odd comment regarding "B and C students", inferring that they were above their two competitors. I thought it was odd that the editors left that line in the airing.

Quote

Some fans are finding your comment comparing Jeremy and Sandy, and Marcus and Amani to C students off-putting. Do you want to elaborate on that?Ernie: What was the exact comment? We were partying a little too hard last night. [Laughs]

You said if you lost to them, it would've been like losing to C students because you guys are A+ students.Cindy: We said that?! Oh my God! How awful! That's so terrible. I can't believe we said that!

You have no recollection of that? Ernie, you also said it would've been like losing to your brother.Ernie: [Laughs] Oh my God! Oh, man. We don't remember that. I mean, it's not meant to be negative in any way. It was just that it seemed like Jeremy and Sandy were squeaking by here and there. They won the Panama leg, which was awesome for them, and Marcus and Amani were the comeback kids. I think it was like, being ahead of the pack, you would feel pretty much ashamed if you lost to someone who came all the way from the back and beat you.

If you need to find a reason to dislike them.. don't. Just dislike them, don't find excuses for yourself and try to hate them for winning. Because the fact is they did win and they won it fair and square.

On Monday, Ernie and Cindy talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience.

Reality TV World: How does it feel to be the winners of The Amazing Race's nineteenth season?

Cindy Chiang: (Laughs)

Ernie Halvorsen: We're relieved. The cat's out of the bag. We can finally tell everybody that we know that we are officially the champions, because there's so many people that you know that think that you are because everyone's your friend and they think, "Oh, we know you're competitive and we know Cindy is kind of a (laughs) a Type A kind of competitive woman herself." And so, it was just relieving.

Cindy Chiang: It was just exciting because I've loved the show for so many years and to actually be able to get on the Race and then join the ranks of some of our favorite teams like [Victor Jih and Tammy Jih] and [Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney] and [Dan Pious and Jordan Pious], it's just fun.

Reality TV World: When you two approached the finish line and saw everyone cheering you on, Cindy, you looked convinced that you had won before The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan even had a chance to tell you. But Ernie, you appeared to be unsure and needed confirmation that you had won before getting really excited. Would you say that's accurate? What was going through both of your minds when running to the Pit Stop mat?

Ernie Halvorsen: I would say it's very accurate simply because we had that time in Yogyakarta where we had to go back to the orphanage because we didn't pay all our money. And I feel like ever since that leg, we've always been very cautious about whether we'd have to go back and do something.

And so, we came -- I knew we were in first. I just didn't know if Phil was going to give us the old, "However..." statement at the final Pit Stop. I was a little cautious because I didn't know if we had missed anything, and you never really know until he says it.

Reality TV World: How far ahead of Jeremy and Sandy do you think you finished? How about Amani and Marcus?

Cindy Chiang: I think we were approximately an hour-and-a-half ahead of Jeremy and Sandy and Marcus and Amani came another hour later. It was probably an estimate.

Reality TV World: During the cab ride to the Margaret Mitchell house, Ernie was shown saying that losing to "the boys" would be one thing but it would be different to lose to Jeremy and Sandy or Marcus and Amani. Based on that, clearly you considered Andy Finch and Tommy Czeschin to be the biggest threat. Do you think you still would have won if they hadn't been eliminated right before the final leg?

Ernie Halvorsen: I think Andy and Tommy are great competitors, great guys. They get kind of an edit where sometimes people don't like the religious aspect of them, but I really love Andy and Tommy to death. And to compete with them was awesome.

It feels like if we lost, it would have been terrible with Andy and Tommy because they're such good guys, and even Marcus and Amani and Sandy and Jeremy -- everyone who races us, they're all good people -- and I would have been excited for any of them to win. It would have been a little bit easier if Andy and Tommy -- I should say, if Andy and Tommy -- would it be easier? No, it wouldn't be easier.

Reality TV World: Cindy, you were shown saying last night that losing The Amazing Race would be like losing to "C" students when you guys were the "A+" students. Could you talk a little bit about what you meant by that? It seemed like you didn't really have a very high opinion of Jeremy and Sandy or Marcus and Amani.

Cindy Chiang: We actually really enjoyed the other teams. We were watching with everybody last night and we were all just kind of joking around and laughing, so we actually missed that comment. I don't remember...

Ernie Halvorsen: It had more to do with the fact that we were running in the front of the pack so often and they were kind of coming in towards the end of the leg, squeaking by.

It was just kind of the feeling where if you're ahead of everybody, and then the people in the back kind of overtake you, then it's that much more upsetting -- that much more devastating. So, we just wanted to make sure that we stayed in the lead.

Reality TV World: Last night's episode showed Jeremy and Sandy saying you two and Amani and Marcus had an advantage in the final leg because all of you were familiar with Atlanta, GA, especially Amani and Marcus since they currently live there. So what is your experience in Atlanta? How much time have you spent there?

Cindy Chiang: Only as visitors. I've been there a couple times for work. I used to do research down in Atlanta because it's a good mixed city, but other than that, I only knew the Buckhead area. So, we didn't know the broader area at all.

Reality TV World: So would you argue the fact then that you didn't really have an advantage, because the only time it seemed like you might have had a grip on where you were was when Jeremy and Sandy got so confused over the dump location.

Cindy Chiang: We actually called the tourism board, so in the airport in Panama, we found a gentleman with a computer and we looked up a bunch of phone numbers. So, we called the Atlanta Tourism Board and that's how we knew where the Margaret Mitchell home was.

We had no idea -- we read the clue and we were like, "The dump? That's odd." So luckily we had written down a couple key phone numbers in order to get the information that we needed.

Reality TV World: Cindy, you were shown saying that the Race was the "ultimate premarital counseling" and that you both learned so much about each other. Could you give me some specifics on what you guys did learn?

Cindy Chiang: Sure! (Laughs) This was probably a lot of preparation up to the actual running of the Race, but we learned that Ernie and I work together pretty well. He balances me out. I'm clearly a little bit more high strung and Type A, and his laid back characteristics just really helped balance each other.

We also learned that we have a tough time communicating sometimes where I might say something and Ernie will either just completely block it because he didn't hear it or he'll completely block it because he didn't want to hear it. So, we worked a little bit on our communication.

Ernie Halvorsen: It's clear that the dysfunction is on my end. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: Some viewers have been critical that Cindy, you seemed to do a lot of whining during the season. What's your response to that? Do you feel you just responded naturally to the Race's circumstances because it was kind of an emotional and stressful?

Cindy Chiang: Yeah, I have read some of those comments. You know, it's challenging. I guess the only thing is -- I mean, yeah.

I ran the Race as hard as I could, the best that I could and I learned a lot about what I appear to be and how people view me, and the only thing I can do is be better for the future and try to really be a better person. I didn't try to whine. I wasn't intending to come off that way, but I can definitely see how a viewer would view me that way.

Ernie Halvorsen: Was there a specific one that you were thinking about?

Reality TV World: No, there were just some general comments made about it and I wanted to give Cindy the opportunity to comment on them.

Cindy Chiang: Yeah, you know, it's really tough to read those criticisms, because I wasn't intending at all to be whiney or complaining. I just -- I understand where they're coming from and I'm trying to be better about it. So, I guess that's the best I can do.

Reality TV World: During last night's flight simulator task, it showed you guys failing your first attempt at landing the aircraft. Did it really only take two tries until you got it right or did it take more times than that?

Ernie Halvorsen: Oh, no. Actually, it only took us two times. The first time, we stalled out the plane because we weren't going fast enough and the second time, we landed right on end.

Reality TV World: It really looked like the whole season boiled down to Jeremy and Sandy wasting time by traveling to the wrong dump. Did you have any idea you were in first place when you got to the Margaret Mitchell house or did you think Jeremy and Sandy had already come and gone since they had finished the aircraft task before you?

Ernie Halvorsen: When we were at the Margaret Mitchell house, we didn't see another taxi cab outside, so we knew that they weren't there of course. And then when I went inside and started typing, no one was around. It didn't look like anybody had used any of the equipment, so I kind of had a feeling that maybe we were in the lead at that point.

But then when we got to the map challenge, it was evident that we were in first place there because it takes awhile to actually get rigged up and actually do the map and then demount, and they weren't even there. So, I knew that there was no way they could have possibly completed that before we ever showed up to the map challenge.

Reality TV World: In past The Amazing Race seasons, most teams normally prepared for a task in the finale that would test their knowledge and memory of the prior legs. How much studying had you two done before that final leg or throughout the Race in general? The map challenge seemed to come extremely easily for you, Cindy.

Cindy Chiang: Yeah, actually every flight that we took, you know those in-flight magazines? They have a map of the world and just a flight route. We would take the magazine every time and we would draw out our path, and so over the course of the 23 days that we were racing, we had drawn that out probably 10 or 15 times. So, as soon as we got to that map, I was like, "Yes! We can do this!"

Ernie Halvorsen: I literally had the map in my back pocket with the red coming from every city just like she drew it up there. It was pretty ironic.

Reality TV World: How long do you think it took you to complete the map task overall?

Cindy Chiang: Good question. What do you think?

Ernie Halvorsen: Well, you had to get a setup time. I think the setup time was like 15 minutes or something like that, and the demounting time was another 15 minutes, and there was a safety briefing and all that, so as far as the basic map challenge part, I think it took like 10 minutes.

Reality TV World: The clues during this final leg seemed to be very obscure. The dump clue and the Hank Aaron clue were both very vague and it seemed like they could have been easily misinterpreted or researched incorrectly. What are your thoughts about that? Do you think it could have been simple to research the wrong locations based on the information given in your clues?

Cindy Chiang: Yeah, absolutely. I think you could definitely be misled. There was a furniture store called "The Dump" that Sandy and Jeremy ended up going to and you could easily think, "Oh, well it's a furniture store. That makes sense" because you're talking about a home. It is obscure, so yeah. They could easily misinterpret it.

Ernie Halvorsen: The only thing that we knew was that it said, "a residence formerly known..." so we knew we were probably looking for a house, and then the Race likes to go to culturally-specific areas in whatever cities we're in, so I didn't think it would actually be like a Home Depot-type store. We were probably going into downtown Atlanta some way.

Cindy Chiang: We also met a lady on the plane that lived in Atlanta her entire life and so, we basically talked to her about all the historical locations, all the famous locations, anything we should see if we were tourists there, and she literally listed off both Turner Field and the Margaret Mitchell home. She said, "If you could see anything in Atlanta, you should see these places."

Ernie Halvorsen: And so when we heard the dump might be Margaret Mitchell's home, we were like, "That's gotta be it!" Because we were told we totally have to go there by this woman on the airline.

Reality TV World: Wow that's lucky! So Cindy, when you lost your ticket on the train, what was going through your mind when you were on that train? What do you think would have happened if everyone's tickets were actually checked?

Ernie Halvorsen: So we felt actually pretty confident getting on that train ride, because we actually did have our registration number from our tickets. We just didn't have the physical tickets.

So, if they came around and asked us for our ticket, we were hoping that we could just tell the conductor that, "Hey, here's our registration number. Could you do something for us? Could you find our tickets somehow?"

Because I was speaking in German to the woman a little bit on the first train and I asked her for her opinion, and she said, "Well, you could get on the train and you could actually try it. It's all in the conductor's opinion if he wants to keep you on or not."

So, that gave us a little bit of confidence to actually sit on that train without them thinking that we were stowaways or something.

Reality TV World: Earlier this season, you guys chose to U-Turn Bill Alden and Cathi Alden, and then they ended up U-Turning Laurence Sunderland and Zac Sunderland as a result. For the most part, Racers on the show rarely U-Turn other teams just to win a leg when they were already in first place. Why did you guys ultimately decide to do that and looking back, would you still back that decision?

Ernie Halvorsen: Yes, definitely. We had just come from the Malawi leg where we were devastated by not coming in first after using our Express Pass and Andy and Tommy overtook us on the beach. I mean, we were just heartbroken and our morale was down. I think after that leg, I don't even know how much spirit we had in the Race anymore. We were just like torn.

I noticed when we got to Copenhagen and we started getting into the lead a little bit more, we kept telling ourselves, "We gotta keep this lead. We gotta keep this lead." And so then it came to the point where whoever was behind us was going to get U-Turned just so we could keep that lead and then hopefully take that lead into the next leg.

It ended up that we actually did it quite well because we actually got an hour or so lead the next day. So, I mean, that's a huge lead that would only help us to continue on in the Race. When you just think about winning a leg compared to the whole Race, you always want a huge gap.

Any time you can develop a huge gap and look for maps a little bit easier and calm and you can look for directions a little bit without the stress of the other teams coming right down on your back, it just makes the Race that much easier.

Cindy Chiang: We tried to use every leg of the Race as a learning experience and tried to take those lessons that we learned into the next Race. It never had anything to do with Bill and Cathi. They're really nice people. It literally was, "We're in the exact same situation as we were yesterday, and we made the wrong decision, so today we're going to make a different decision."

Reality TV World: Why did you specifically choose to U-Turn Bill and Cathi when it seemed like most of the teams didn't even consider them a threat? Was it the type of situation where they were the only team you knew of that was behind you or what was the reasoning for why you didn't pick another team instead?

Cindy Chiang: Bill and Cathi were literally two minutes behind us and so we thought at that point that it was the exact same situation as the day before.

Ernie Halvorsen: It came down to positioning. We knew we were in the lead and we knew Bill and Cathi were in second at that point, and they were turning out butter just as fast as we were. My racecar driving skills were terrible. I could barely reverse out of the parking lot.

Bill was like a pro at that thing, so I knew it came down to us getting to our cars at the same time because we were just running to it. I think they would have gotten first definitely, because we were that close.

But it had nothing to really do with Bill and Cathi. It had more to do with just wanting to maintain a secured lead, and then of course we just didn't do anything to Andy and Tommy, because U-Turning someone like Andy and Tommy -- who were a bigger threat -- would have just been pointless.

Marcus and Amani were basically a half-day behind -- at that point, we thought that they were like almost a half-day behind us. So if we U-Turned Andy and Tommy, what's that going to do? It's just going to make these guys more upset. It's not actually going to kick these guys out of the Race in any way.

Cindy Chiang: I feel like Bill and Cathi had the chance to use the second U-Turn, so we knew for sure that we weren't marking them for elimination -- that they could literally get back in the game.

Reality TV World: After Phil told you guys you had won the Race, Ernie, you said your family would be in disbelief, while Cindy, you said your parents would probably have expected you to win. Cindy, it seemed like it was an ongoing storyline this season that you wanted your parents to accept you and Ernie as a team, as if you really hoped to receive their approval. What was their reaction when they had discovered you guys won and has the Race changed their outlook on your relationship at all?

Ernie Halvorsen: It was exactly how we described it on TV. (Laughs)

Cindy Chiang: (Laughs) It was exactly how we described it! My parents literally go, "Oh, well we expected that." And Ernie's mom...

Ernie Halvorsen: She literally fainted. She's like a June Cleaver type of woman and she just was in hysteria when we told her about the victory.

Reality TV World: What do you guys plan on doing with your prize money and you guys are obviously engaged, so when do you see a wedding happening? Have you set a date yet?

Cindy Chiang: Yeah, we're getting married in March in Chicago. So that's kind of next on our list. But then, we're actually working on starting a business and we're hoping to raise awareness and help fight childhood obesity in the U.S. and then use the proceeds from the company to support education and developing markets.

Ernie Halvorsen: We'll do this through events that we'll talk more about once we get things more organized, but right now, it's kind of in its infancy. So, we actually have a website -- ernie-cindy.com -- that we're hoping to have people come to so they can follow us, because the process is just starting up.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Cindy Chiang: We actually called the tourism board, so in the airport in Panama, we found a gentleman with a computer and we looked up a bunch of phone numbers. So, we called the Atlanta Tourism Board and that's how we knew where the Margaret Mitchell home was.

After four continents, ten countries, twenty cities and more than 35,000 miles, engaged couple Ernie Halvorsen and Cindy Chiang were named the winners of The Amazing Race, scooping the $1 million prize at the finish line in Atlanta, Georgia over second-placed Jeremy and Sandy and third-placed Marcus and Amani.

Digital Spy spoke with Ernie and Cindy today about that final leg, their race highlights, and what the future holds:

What has life been like since it was revealed you had won?

Ernie: "A whirlwind!"Cindy: "It's been great. We actually watched the show with the other racers and all of our families. It's been really fun to share this experience with everyone we ran the race with."

Ernie, you said your parents would probably "pass out in disbelief" at learning you'd won. Is that what happened?!

Ernie: "That was definitely the case! My mom was in a frenzy when I told her we'd won. Same with my father. How it was described on TV was pretty much how it went down."

It's almost fitting you guys won because you won the very first leg of the race...

Ernie: "Yeah, it was nice to win the first leg for the tool of the Express Pass to use later on, and then get a little trip to Fiji which we'll hopefully use for honeymoon. To wrap it up with the main victory was outstanding."

It seemed you had a comfortable lead throughout the final leg. How were you feeling heading to the finish line?

Cindy: "We had a pretty good feeling we'd left in first because by the time we'd gotten to the map challenge it didn't look like anyone else had got to the map yet, and by the time we left we still hadn't seen any of the other teams. We were hoping as long as we didn't get lost that we'd get to the pitstop quickly. We did get a little bit lost but it was only for a short amount of time."

When the cab driver missed his turning was that cause for concern or were you feeling pretty confident at that stage?

Ernie: "It was probably the only leg of the race where we did everything right! The taxi driver actually had the GPS unit and it was recalculating like it showed on TV but I don't think it gave us enough sense of worry that we thought we wouldn't find the place. I think my face on TV was more concerned because I didn't want Phil to give me a 'however' at the final pitstop. You never know in this game!"

Were you ever worried you'd get penalized for losing your train tickets on the way to Brussels?

Ernie: "We actually didn't have too much of a worry about that. The tickets were provided by the production so we had the tickets. Physically we didn't have them, but we had the reservation numbers. When I talked to the conductor on the first train she informed me it was in the conductor's opinion on the next train if they want to allow us on. We felt a little bit more comfortable that we could persuade the guy on the second train to let us ride it through because we were with all these other teams that are obviously in our pack. But it never came up. It was a non-issue and we were just glad we didn't get penalized."

You had good luck with people being really helpful in this leg from the cab driver lending his phone to the receptionist at the hotel. How important was that help?

Ernie: "When you're good to people, people tend to do nice things for you too. We tried to stay positive through all of our cabbies and everyone we came in contact with. If you go in there and are pushy or start being negative and harassing then no-one wants to do anything for you, so I wouldn't say it was so much luck as it was being good people and being nice to others. People returned the favor."Cindy: "They didn't show a lot of the travel in cabs but we had a strategy where we would cheer and high five the cab drivers to make them feel they are part of the race too, part of the team. And they were. They are what can make or break your game."Ernie: "If they are feeling good then we are feeling good and we're moving forward."

As shown when your cab driver helped you find the pitstop in Panama...

Cindy: "Right, we didn't know what was going on. We went to the Balboa Statue and saw Andy and Tommy there and we're like, 'Shoot, this is not it. We need to go back to the dancers'. The driver was like, 'No, I know where it is'."Ernie: "We're like, 'How do you know where it is?!'"Cindy: "We had actually passed Panama Viejo earlier in the day and Ernie had said, 'I bet that's where our pitstop is...'"Ernie: "Because it was so historic - a relic - and you just figured it would be a great spot for a pitstop."Cindy: "So as soon as he said Panama Viejo we're like, 'Oh, that makes sense!' Maybe one of his friends saw production setting up or something."Ernie: "We had no idea how he knew that."Cindy: "We lucked out and he got a big tip!"

There was a friendly rivalry between you guys and the snowboarders. Were you disappointed not to be racing against them in the finale?

Ernie: "I think we were disappointed they got eliminated just for the simple fact they are good people and nice guys and great competitors."Cindy: "It took the pressure off a little bit because Andy and Tommy are so competitive and great athletes. If it came down to a foot race there was no way I would beat Olympians on a foot race! It was a little relieving although we love them and they are great people."

Where did the idea for launching a foundation with your winnings come from?]

Cindy: "We had a different idea going into the race, but as we were racing around and had the chance to explore, our idea started to evolve. When we got back from filming we went to Haiti for a weekend and spent time visiting with a bunch of foundations and NGOs. It was our visit to an orphanage that really inspired us to help with the education of children, because we had gone with a mission group to this orphanage. They said the most challenging thing was covering school fees for primary school. As soon as a child is out of primary school they are not going back to school so we thought for sure we wanted to be able to support education for primary school children."

Ernie: "And the cost is so marginal compared to the States. If we can do a little something to offset these costs and provide tuition or scholarships for children that are actually excited and looking forward to going to school to better themselves or their local economies then we want to provide that."

Will you treat yourselves to anything as well?

Ernie: "A wedding! We actually don't treat ourselves too much. It feels better to give back most of the time. I can give Cindy a million diamond rings but I don't think it will make either one of us feel any better than if we put somebody into school."

You said the race was great pre-marital counseling. What did you learn about each other through the experience?

Ernie: "I didn't know Cindy was so funny until I watched the race!"Cindy: "It's the editing! No, I'm kidding! We learned a lot about how to communicate with each other and work together. I think it was a magnified version of who we are that you saw. Ernie always balances me out. If I'm stressed out he calms me down, if he needs to get revved up a little bit I know exactly how to pump him up."Ernie: "It's a great team we have here and I'm so glad Cindy was able to convince me to do this."

Aside from winning what was your highlight?

Ernie: "The bodybuilding challenge!"Cindy: "I think meeting all of the people and the other teams and production. There are so many people that go into making this race happen."Ernie: "I think the networks you build and friendships you make are lifelong. You can't put a price on things like that and especially seeing the things we saw. How many other people get to travel around the world like that? It's pretty incredible that we got lucky enough to have the chance to do that."

So we'll be seeing some of the former racers at your wedding?

Cindy: "They are all invited and I think most of them plan on coming."Ernie: "And Justin is speaking so he better show up!"

What is in the immediate future for you?

Ernie: "My company went bankrupt last week so I'm currently out of work, so I'll be working hard on getting this wedding together and our business idea while Cindy is continuing with her corporate life. As soon as the wedding is done we'll be in full business mode trying to get our new organization started. Our ultimate goal is to get that up and running and be the best organization possible."